The Birthday!

Chocolate Carrot Cake

So knowing me not everything went perfectly! The cheesecakes were yummy and the carrot cake was exquiset but the brownies. When I made the brownies I was tring so hard not to over mix the mixture that I didn't mix it enough! The brownies came out of the oven with parts that were not the colour the brownies should have been. Also they didn't hold thier shape and turned into a crumbily mess when I tried to cut them. On a positive note they still tasted really good!



Chocolate Carrot Cake



 

For the recipe for Passion Cake (Chocolate Carrot Cake) CLICK HERE.

For the recipe for Brownies CLICK HERE.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake

These are irrestabily peanut buttery goodnes. They remind me of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. I made a large cake and then cut out mini cheesecakes and piped whipped cream on top just before serving. Another idea is to drizzle dark chocolate over the top as this will contrast nicly with the rich peanut butter.

Chocolate Carrot Cake in
 foreground, Peanut Butter
Cheesecakes behind and
Brownies in the background.

Ingredients:
For the base:
500g chocolate chip digestive biscuits
100g butter, melted
2 tablespoons milk

For the Filling:

210g crunchy peanut butter

125ml double cream

250g cream cheese

110g castor sugar

Method:

1. Grease a 24cm round loose based flan tin.
2. To make the base: Whiz the biscuits in a food processor until  fine. Add the melted butter and milk and whiz on a high speed until combined. Once combined pour into the prepared tin. Using the back of a fork press into the base of the tin. Place in the freezer until needed.
3. To make the filling: Combine the peanut butter and cream in a small saucepan and place over a low heat. Mix together until the mixture is smooth. Cool.  Beat the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer, until the sugar has dissolved. Pour the peanut butter mixture into the cream cheese mixture and beat until combined.
4. Remove the base from the freezer and pout the peanut buter mixture on top. Smooth out and then place in the freezer for another 3 hours before serving.
5. To serve drizzle with chocolate or whipped cream.

American Desserts

So my mom's birthday is coming around again. I was trying to think of an interesting idea for a birthday cake. Over the years I have created the chocolate cakes, the cupcakes, the pies, the sponge cakes etc. So I wanted to so something new, interesting and different.

I am a big fan of mini cakes and desserts. Soon  after lots of deliberating and flicking through cookery books, I came up with the idea of using a tiered cake stand and filling it with lots of mini desserts. But the next question was which desserts should I choose?

Again I went back to the cook books. After looking through the cookbooks I came up with the idea of doing an American themed 'thing'. Next I did some research into what are the top American desserts. From this I choose to make Chocolate Carrot Cake Cupcakes (Passion Cake), Mini Peanut Butter Cheesecake and Brownies. These are quintessential American flavours / treats and all have a running theme of chocolate so they will compliment each other in flavour.

Therefore the idea is to fill a tiered cake stand with these desserts and then decorate with candles. Sounds easy? We'll see! Check back on Monday to see the results!